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| The Brown Mountain Lights shine on. |
In a remote area of western North Carolina stands Brown
Mountain, site of the Brown Mountain Lights. These mysterious glowing blue-white
lights, first seen hovering or speeding over the hulking mountain by the
Cherokee in times past, have contributed to North Carolina’s reputation as a
target of UFO investigation for decades.
So it’s only fitting that now, just over the
ridge from Brown Mountain in neighboring Mitchell County NC, the first annual Spruce
Pine Alien Conference and EXPO (S.P.A.C.E.)
is planned for June 14 and 15. The two-day fun-filled event schedule features an
alien costume contest, panel discussions, night-time “dark sky” tours, decorated
bike and river raft races, live music, dozens of vendors, a beer garden, a
stage for folks to share their “alien encounter” stories and appearances by
Mike Bara of the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens series. I’m an SF con
veteran and I’m way excited by this line-up!
Of course, I may be too busy to enjoy much
of S.P.A.C.E.’s offerings. I’ll be signing books at my own vendor booth on the
main drag (the town has closed Locust Avenue to vehicular traffic for the
event). I’ll also be one of several “experts” on a speakers’ panel discussing “Aliens
Among Us.” Squeee!
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| Spruce Pine Reimagined for S.P.A.C.E. |
And, dear readers, the organizers are expecting 10,000
visitors for this thing! If they get even half that number, it will be more
than twice the crowd that usually attends Shore Leave or RWA Nationals. Wowzer!
The little town of Spruce Pine, population
2175 at the last census, is probably not prepared for this influx, but no one
can fault the conference organizers for their initiative in finding a way to capitalize on
the local UFO connection. The outer space tie-in includes not just Brown Mountain.
Mitchell County provides most of the quartz used in telescopes and microchips
in the U.S. The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)
designated the Mayland Earth to Sky Park and Observatory outside Spruce Pine as
the first IDA-certified Star Park in the southeastern United States.
With all this excitement it’s hard to know
how to prepare for S.P.A.C.E. Our own town of Marshall has grown the June 8 Mermaid Parade
and Festival from a wildly creative, but small, gathering of sea princesses and
pirates to a day-long extravaganza of seafood contests, splash-y fun, arts and
crafts, and live music, as well as the climactic parade in just four short years.
Folks come from the big city of Asheville and surrounding counties to spend the
day (and their tourist dollars), turning our sleepy little town into a
celebratory crazy place.
A festival dedicated to aliens has the
potential to bring in folks from all over the country—if the organizers
have done their promo jobs right. That’s a little scary for me, much less for
the residents of Spruce Pine. But it can also be a heckuva lot of fun. I’m
really looking forward to my first trip to S.P.A.C.E. Wish me bon voyage!
Cheers, Donna
